Lifted caladium, alocasia, glads (why?) already and I guess I got my work cut out this weekend lifting dahlias.

Anyone else taking anything interesting in to store through winter?

We're going to try and keep some of the ornamental sweet potatos, they got huge, anyone tried it?

Last night's frost whacked my Shasta Daisies, but I have hopes for the unopened buds. After the weekend, it's supposed to warm back up a bit.

Ahhh... but are they last years that never got in? No, I guess that's me that has a bunch of those :-)

The sweet potato vines were a home depot rescue. Looked like blackie and margurite but with HD who really knows.

We had them in window boxes, hanging baskets and containers with wave petunias, ornamental millet, coleus. sunflowers, lantana and others. They did really well even through late August. They seem to like really warm roots, just like the ones you grow in the veggie garden.

When we went to empty the containers last month we could not believe the size of the tubers. Don't know how they'll keep but for now they are still solid. Wish the georgia jet I had in the vegetable garden did as well.

What are you doing about your roses. have you winter protected them yet? After the 1st frost we piled up 1.5 ft. of soil to further cover the bud unions on our HT's and did the same on some of the others, but I am wondering with this warm weather if I should pull it away till it really freezes again. Any suggestions?

This will be only my 2nd winter so I don't have a lot of different methods in my repertoire from which to compare and offer advice. However, I'll tell you what I did last winter, because it worked (I had zero rose losses). What did I do? The lazy gardener's method: I did nothing! Actually, I had the intention of clearing out all of the fallen maple leaves that accumulated in the garden, but I was too lazy to do that too. It turned out well, the leaves acted as a mulch. I worried that the leaves would rot and cause canker, but it didn't.
I wonder if mounding all of that soil might do more harm than good. The thing to worry about is rotting of the canes, but then again, it's just soil. In any case, I'd ask on the roses forum. I hear that hay and oak leaves are good mulch options - neither get all rotted out. Maple leaves rot (but I'm taking my chances).

Angie

The salvia grew from seed called Blue Angel from Pinetree Gardens. A few years ago, I had gotten it in six-packs called "salvia guarantica" and it looked identical to the "patens". Cobalt blue flowers on 2 1/2 foot plants. I dug them up in the fall as small tubers and replanted them the next spring - a few actually overwintered - but forgot the next fall. I love blue.